Patriots Positional Playoff Preview: Special teams

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Christopher Price
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January 9, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
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With the postseason underway, we’ve got the Patriots Positional Playoff Preview, a week-long, position-by-position look at the Patriots and how they look heading into the postseason. We’ve broken things down on both sides of the ball[1]. Now, it’s a chance to take a look at special teams:

Overview: It’s been an up-and-down year for the Patriots special teamers. After a long draught, New England got a punt return (from Julian Edelman[6] against the Colts) and kick return (by McCourty against the Jets). There’s also the continued excellence of Slater, who is a tremendously disruptive force for opposing teams to have to deal with on a weekly basis. (Seriously, invest the $70 in NFL Game Rewind and watch the coaches’ film of his work. No surprise he was named to his second consecutive Pro Bowl[7].)

There were also some struggles, particularly early in the season by Gostkowski, who missed what would have been a likely game-winner against the Cards, and missed a pair against the Bills. He seemed to right the ship late in the season — he’s made eight of his last nine field goals over the last five weeks of the regular season, including three from 40-plus yards.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the Patriots use their returners in the postseason. Since Edelman went down with a season-ending injury, they have utilized a handful of different players, but have appeared to settle on Welker as a punt returner and McCourty as a kick returner.

Best Moment: Three immediately stick out: the fumble which was returned for a touchdown by Edelman in the Thanksgiving Night massacre of the Jets, Edelman’s 68-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Colts, and McCourty’s 104-yard kick return for a touchdown in the home with over the Jets.

Worst Moment: Gostkowski’s 42-yard field-goal attempt late in the fourth quarter against the Cardinals ended up being the difference in a shocking September loss to Arizona. In the same game, Mesko had a blocked punt, which the Cardinals quickly turned into a touchdown.

By the numbers: Gostkowski’s 153 points is a career-high.

Money quote: ‘It’s been a blast; I’ve had a lot of fun with these guys this year. It’s a group that takes a lot of pride in what we do and we have a lot of fun doing it. I think there’s a good combination of veteran guys with experience and young guys that are willing and eager and understand this is how they’re going to make their bones in this league and they’ve embraced their role. Overall, it’s been one of the most fun seasons I’ve had as a part of this team. Hopefully we can keep it going.’ — Slater on working with this year’s special teamers.